Like most people, I presume, weekends are the time for me when some good cooking/baking can get under the belt. I have the leisure to wander the fruit/ veggie stands, fight for a spot at the butcher and joke with the fish monger about freshness. If it’s really cold outside a soup will be made and stored away for the week to come. If it’s mild enough to take my time shopping (no car), I have the opportunity to really let my mind wander, without worrying about exposed fingers falling off from the cold.

It is some of the worst days though, when the last thing I desire is to step outside. Not even my thick flannel pants I wear camping in the fall or my warmest sweater and thick mittens can convince me into the icy voyage. It is these days where the cookbook is a dear friend and a minimalist “whatever’s in the cabinet” recipe comes to the rescue.

It was on one of these bitter days that I picked up one of my new cookbooks and gave it a go.

I recently received a copy of The Cook’s Book from the publisher for review. An initial flip through offers some amazing color photos, many step-by-step, of recipes. It’s a great overall technique book that is easy to follow for a more experienced chef (I would not recommend it to a beginner). Much of what is inside is basics, how to’s and general tips and tricks of the trade—like how many minutes is a medium rare steak again? How do you fillet that fish? Yet many of the recipes can get very challenging, be it time consuming, a difficult step here or there, or a hard-to-find ingredient. (A more involved review in the weeks to come.)

That being said, my initial plunge into this book’s recipes have been extremely rewarding with many more to come. The first challenge was honey-lime truffles. These truffles were an absolute surprise– who knew I could make such delicious truffles? They were silken and luxurious, sweet and sour and a true Valentine treat.

The above pictured specimen was the next step with this book. I was looking more for a bread, but as I said, it was cold outside. I had to stick with what I had in the cabinets. The dates were a recent birthday gift, I was good to go.

D is a huge fan of cinnamon rolls. Mind you, not the ones that drip with a sugary white glaze, but straight up cinnamon rolls, raisins optional. They are the ones where the deep twisted chasms are filled with gooey spice and the bread is dense, yet sponge-like in a perfect marriage. In fact, D considers me quite the curmudgeon because I refuse to let him have one every day. If I delight him with a purchase there is usually a portion of a follow up conversation that goes something like: “you never let me have the things that I love,” while cinnamon-sugar oozes between his fingers and sticks to his beard he’ll claim “I’m just saving some for later,” instead of wiping himself clean. I am a cruel person.

When I saw this recipe for cinnamon date bread I knew it was the perfect merge of D’s love (cinnamon rolls), ingredients (all on hand in the cabinet) and my favorite (the use of liquor in cooking). The perfect breakfast. While my final version is not nearly as clean looking as the version pictured in The Cook’s Book, I can only assume that it is far better in sweet gooey purity. Below is the recipe as it appears in the book.

CINNAMON & DATE COFFEE CAKE
Serving Size= 1 bread; 4 people. Active time= about 30 minutes. Cook time= 30 minutes.
Makes 1 Bread
* 2-½ tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for the mold
* 1-2/3 cups all purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 extra large egg
* 5 tablespoons milk
For layering the dough
* 6 tablespoons brown sugar
* ½ heaped cup roughly chopped dates
* 3-½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1-½ tablespoons dark rum [brandy works well too]

1) Preheat oven to 400F. Thickly butter an 8-½ in ring mold that is 2 in deep, or a cake pan of the same diameter. Line the bottom of the mold or pan with parchment paper.
2) Sift the flour, sugar, and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter using your fingertips. Whisk the eggs with the milk in a cup until well combined, then stir this into the dry ingredients in the bowl. Work the mixture together well with your hands until you have an evenly mixed, soft dough. Scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface and lightly knead it for 10-15 seconds.
3) Mix together the brown sugar, dates butter and cinnamon and rum in a small bowl; keep to one side. Roll out the dough to a rectangle that is roughly ¼ in thick, 14 in long and 8 in wide.
4) Spread the date mixture evenly over the surface of the dough, then roll it up tightly like a jelly roll. With a sharp knife, cut the rolled dough in half lengthwise.
5) Twist the two pieces together, keeping the cut surfaces facing up, then curl into the mold. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes. Let the coffee cake cool in the mold for 5 minutes, then unmold onto a wire rack. This is best served still warm.

This luxurious soup was made from that citrus-sweet pork shoulder way back when. (This blog is not exactly in Real Time– although I suppose it is possible I froze the bone).

The weather this past week has been frigid. Growing up in the Chicagoland area, I can handle the cold (my school was once canceled because it was too cold to go outside, i.e. frostbite in under 1 second). When I first moved to New York City almost 10 years ago I used to (for brief stints outside) wear t-shirts in 30 degree weather. People thought I was crazy, I proclaimed it was the Chicagoan in me keeping me warm. But when winds blast exposed skin so it feels as though it is peeling right off your face… Well, that makes we want to crawl into a small room with a blazing fire and never leave.

When it is this cold outside and you can feel the cold shoot from the pavement through your shoes and freeze your bones, hot meals are all the more soothing. There is little better than the natural heating power of a steaming bowl of soup to keep you toasty (okay, maybe a steaming mug of hot cocoa or tea). This a the perfect soup for the blah weather. It is silky rich and deliciously filling with a little croute on top or crispy bread on the side.

My freezer is full of frozen individual portion sizes of soups. Once frozen and mixed up, they often turn into a game of surprise lunches that D and I will regale in after work: “Ooooh, I had that swiss chard soup from this summer– even better warm!” or “I thought it was the ginger carrot, but once hot I realized it was the winter squash.” The supply sometimes seems endless and the addition of this split pea is a welcomed one. How else do you think D and I have had nary a sneeze these past two winters (forgetting the recent bout of food poisoning that just reinforces the benefits of home eating).

I remember my mother used to make split pea for us in the winter. Just before serving she would float hot dog slices into the soup (how very Chicago of her). As kids, we loved it and I distinctly remember plucking each hot dog piece out with my fingers and shoving my whole fist happily into my mouth, licking it clean in the process.

These days, I don’t need that extra salty kick of a hot dog to eat this soup (I prefer the kick of a little bacon). Once the split peas soften into the broth, this soup is deceivingly thick. If I didn’t make it myself I would swear there was gallons of cream laced into this creation. In fact, the only cream is the (optional) tablespoon I floated on top before serving.

This is the kind of soup that can melt you out of the warm house, allowing you to brave the nasty elements outside. It is filling on its own, paired with a light salad or a good sandwich.

SPLIT PEA SOUP
Serving Size= 8-10. Active time= about 20 minutes. Inactive time= about 2 hours.
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* ½ pound bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces (optional and used instead of butter and olive oil)
* 1 large sweet onion, chopped
* 2 stalks celery plus leaves, chopped about 3 inches long
* 2 carrots, chopped about 3 inches long
* pork bone, the shoulder works well
* 10-12 cups water
* 2- 12 ounce bags green split peas, washed and brown ones discarded
* ½ cup loosely chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish
* 2-½ teaspoons cumin
* salt/ pepper to taste

1) Warm a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Remove bacon set aside. Keep about 2 tablespoons of fat in the stock pot, discard the remaining, soaking it up with a paper towel. (If not using bacon, warm the butter and olive oil and continue).
2) Add onion and sauté until translucent; about 5 minutes.
5) Add celery, carrots and pork bone, sauté about 5 minutes. Add water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and uncover slightly.
6) Let simmer until pork bone begins to break down and smell infiltrates the air, about 1-½ hours. Add split peas, parsley, cumin and pepper. Follow directions for cooking length on back of package, usually the peas need about 30 minutes to cook.
7) Peas will have absorbed most liquid. Add salt to taste. Remove bone and cut any remaining pork into bite-sized pieces, add to soup. Additionally, if any pork remains uneaten from shoulder, about 2 cups of bite-sized pieces can be added to the pot. Add bacon, stir until evenly combined.
9) Serve plain or with croutes and a little heavy cream and/or parsley flakes drizzled over top.

If you live in Queens head to your local supermarket (or street corner news box) and pick up a free copy of the Queens Chronicle (Western Queens edition). The piece is in the Entertainment section (qboro): Pork Fest in Astoria This Weekend!

Alternatively, follow this link:

Queens Chronicle “Astoria Pigs Out”.

Enjoy.